animated

This retention email from Bath & Body Works was fun! The animated gif grabbed my attention right away. The theme was cute with the product playing hide-and-seek (peek-a-boo) and asking “Where’d you go?” The call to action in the heart with the wording “Let’s Play!” was a nice touch. My only suggestion — I could always use a little more incentive (eh-hem, a discount, or at least some enticing new products to check out) to get me to click through. Overall, nicely done!

This email cashed in on current trends of mobile viewing and social media commenting. I loved how the comments they came up with both highlighted the discount as well as added cute takes on the products. My favorite: “My apartment’s gunna be like #yaaaassss.” The hashtags in the subject line were extra icing on the cake. Amazing.

2. Originality

Date: 04/01/2015
Subject Line: Thanks for your order!

“Your Receipt From the Future,” as the email states. It’s designed to look like a receipt, but it’s a promotional email. I’ve never seen anything like it and I found it so interesting. I’m sure anyone that saw the subject line “Thanks for our order,” had a double take – wait, did I order something? I loved how instead of listing products by name they used phrases like, “That sofa you’ve been eyeing.” Their incorporation of the links were also well implemented. It was a departure from their regular, graphic-filled emails and I found it very fun.

3. Clever Copy

Date: 04/20/2015
Subject Line: 1 day only! This one’s a no-brainer.‏

This is just one of many examples highlighting their fun wordplay. I have to admit, I got a little chuckle when I read the numbered list.

It would have been easy to just use the image of the lamps, but West Elm went the extra mile. They really made this email stand out by making the lights switch on and off. Also, take note of the wordplay in the subject line.

The perfectly aligned square design is hard enough to achieve on it’s own, but West Elm took it a step further by animating and swapping words to give this email layers of meaning. I watched, entranced, waiting to see which combinations they had come up with.